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Learning to Read Rocks III

Artist: Halperin, Ilana, RSA · b. 1973

Learning to Read Rocks III

In submitting her Diploma Collection deposit the artist has written; "These interrelated works were commissioned by then Comar/An Tobar on the Isle…

In submitting her Diploma Collection deposit the artist has written;

"These interrelated works were commissioned by then Comar/An Tobar on the Isle of Mull as part of ‘Generation: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland’ in 2014 and formed part of my solo exhibition at An Tobar entitled ‘Learning to Read Rocks’.

The drawing served as a navigational anchor within the exhibition, and features recurring core concerns within my work – intergenerational geologic family; expansive notions of deep time; a shared birthday with the Eldfell volcano; queer experiences of miscarriage; calcium carbonate rock cycles; and on.

The handwritten inclusion of the quote by the writer John McPhee further supports the conceptual explorations within this work, as well as my ongoing interest in his writing, which ultimately led me to invite him to write a new text for an exhibition I co-curated in Iceland on the 50th Anniversary/birthday of the Eldfell volcano in 2023. His new text features in the publication ‘A Meeting with Eldfell’, 2023.

To build on themes within the drawing, it is my pleasure to additionally propose the inclusion of the sculptural work ‘From Coral to Marble’, which materially and corporeally expands on narrative ideas within the drawing.

These works, in effect, have become a studio map for the development of my practice, through incrementally developing the ideas within them through multiple bodies of work – from ‘Chaos Terrain’ at University of St Andrews; to ‘The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi)’ at Akiyoshidai Museum of Natural History and Pier Arts Centre; to my significant work ‘The Rock Cycle’ which featured in my solo exhibition ‘There is a Volcano Behind my House’ at Mount Stuart in 2021.

Though I am known for certain strands of work both sculpturally and through works on paper, within Edinburgh in the collections of Scottish National Galleries and at University of Edinburgh, these approaches within my work are well represented. However, the more narratively driven work, of which ‘Learning to Read Rocks’ is an example – which I consider very important strands within my practice, do not have as strong a presence within permanent collections."